How to get the best defense in Terraria 1.4 in Expert and Master modes

Building the ultimate defense setup for your character is an eternal challenge in each new update of Terraria. In the final patch 1.4, the developers have once again changed the game balance. With this guide, you will be able to ease the search for items with the best armor stats in Expert and Master difficulties.

With this guide, you can achieve an astonishing armor rating of 190, which will make you nearly invincible on any difficulty. Also, note that almost all the items used in the build are reforged to increase armor (+4), which adds the prefix Warding to their names. Initially, all items will be without this enchantment, and you need to apply it yourself.

First, you need to obtain the artifact — Demon Heart. To do this, you need to defeat the boss Wall of Flesh and search the Treasure Bag.

If you are playing in Expert mode, you will have six accessory slots. And if you chose Master, there will be seven.

The next component of the best armor build in Terraria 1.4 is the Solar Flare Helmet:

Next up is the Solar Flare Breastplate, which can rightfully be considered the best body armor in Terraria 1.4:

For leg armor in this Terraria 1.4 build, we will use the Valhalla Knight's Greaves. You won't need to craft them, as they are sold by one of the NPCs:

With the armor done, it's time to collect a full set of accessories. The first one is the Warding Flesh Knuckles:

If you can't find Crimson Mimics, you can use an alternative method to obtain the Warding Flesh Knuckles. To do this, you need to get 15 Souls of Night and craft a Key of Night at a regular workbench. Then create any chest, place it, and put the Key of Night inside to transform the chest into a Crimson Mimic.

The second accessory you will need in the defense build for Terraria 1.4 is the Warding Paladin's Shield:

If you want to maximize your defense, you can use the Warding Hero's Shield:

When the shield is finally done, let's move on to the gloves. At the moment, the best choice is the Warding Berserker's Glove:

The Power Glove can sometimes be dropped by various enemies, purchased from NPCs, but the fastest way is to craft it yourself from Feral Claws and Titan Glove. These items are almost always at hand in the late stages of the game.

Here you will have to work a bit to get the necessary items. From them, we will craft the Warding Celestial Shell:

It seems quite simple, but each component is rather difficult to obtain. The Celestial Stone is crafted from the Moon Stone and the Sun Stone. The first one drops from vampires during a solar eclipse, while the Sun Stone can be found from Golems.

The same goes for the Moon Shell, which needs to be made from Neptune's Shell and Moon Charm. The first one is a reward for defeating the Creature of the Deep during a solar eclipse. The Moon Charm drops from Werewolves during a full moon.

Need even more defense? No problem, the Warding Frozen Shield is perfect for this:

The process of obtaining the Paladin's Shield has already been described above, but the second component has not yet been considered in this guide. The Frozen Turtle Shell sometimes drops from the Ice Tortoise in the Underground Ice Biome.

Another not-so-easy-to-get item, but if you want the best defense in Terraria after patch 1.4, you can't do without the Warding Ankh Shield:

Each of these required components can be crafted, so you won't need to hunt for rare mobs in special biomes. Let's start with the Obsidian Shield:

The Ankh Charm is even simpler. Like many other low-level charms, it is crafted in the Tinkerer's Workshop from standard materials:

With the Obsidian Shield and Ankh Charm in hand, you can easily get the Ankh Shield using the standard combining procedure.

Despite the abundance of weapons in Terraria, unfortunately, the choice here is not as great as in other sections. If you want to play with a build for maximum defense, you have only one option — the Brand of the Inferno:

To get the defense bonus, you need to equip the Brand of the Inferno and, without using it, block with a shield by right-clicking.

Regarding consumable items, patch 1.4 for Terraria hasn't changed much. As before, the best defense is given by the Ironskin Potion:

Another good way to temporarily increase your character's defense in Terraria by 4 points is to eat any Exquisitely prepared dish. Here are just a few examples:

So if you are an experienced cook, your skills will definitely come in handy. Especially if you can cook some food and drinks that give significant boosts to all stats, as defense is among these stats.

No changes here either. If you can find the Dryad, you can get a temporary defense buff. Lure enemies to the Dryad, and she will cast a spell creating a circle of flowers.

While you stand in this circle, your defense will be increased by 8. Of course, this is a highly situational effect, but it can sometimes be useful.